Malaysian palm oil planter FGV Holdings on Monday reported a smaller fourth quarter profit and said it will compensate its foreign workers who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs.

The world's largest crude palm oil producing company reported a net profit of 337.7 million ringgit ($75.48 million) during the October-December period, shrinking from 465.1 million ringgit profit in the same quarter last year.

FGV in a bourse filing said the lower profits were partly due to higher manuring, upkeep and maintenance costs.

Revenue fell 1.2% to 6.1 billion ringgit ($1.36 billion).

"The plantation sector will continue to improve its operations through mechanisation, replanting programmes and implementing cost optimisation initiatives to manage rising operational costs and energy prices," the firm said.

FGV has since 2020 been hit by a U.S. import ban on its palm oil products due to allegations of forced labour in its plantations.

The firm said it would set aside 111.64 million ringgit ($24.95 million) to compensate current and former foreign workers who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs.

Migrant workers are often charged a fee to appoint employment agents in their home countries to land jobs in Malaysia.

Such payments may result in debt bondage as worker pay off the debt, which has been identified by the International Labour Organization as an indicator of forced labour.

FGV said it was also implementing recommendations from independent auditing firm Elevate and expects to submit a final report to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "in the near future", as part of efforts to lift the import ban. ($1 = 4.4740 ringgit) (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Martin Petty)